Fickle Voters Favor Both Old, New

Challengers for city and town council seats in Williamsburg, Windsor, Suffolk and West Point enjoyed a good day at the polls Tuesday.

Smithfield voters were more supportive of incumbents, giving them three of four contested Town Council seats.

In Williamsburg, attorney Channing Hall III, whose father and grandfather served on the City Council, was the race's top vote-getter. School Board Chairwoman Jeanne Zeidler, director of the Hampton University Museum, won the second council seat.

College of William and Mary police officer Kenneth Love fell 40 votes shy of Zeidler in his bid to become the first black elected to the council this century.

Incumbent Joel Whitley, director of the clinical lab at Chesapeake General Hospital, lost his seat. Sixteen-year City Councilwoman Mary Lee Darling did not seek re-election.

Several voters said they made their choices more on personalities than issues.

"I voted for Love because I know him," Scott Pulliam said. "And my friend saw one of the debates and said he liked Zellman, or Zollman or something. I knew it started with a Z, so I voted for her."

In Smithfield, Town Council members Florine Moore, James B. Chapman and Tom Hearn won re-election. The only newcomer elected to the council was Dan Smith, a local contractor. He will replace Bill Watts, who did not seek re-election.

On the Southside, three political neophytes - J. Edward Hall, W.L. "Buck" Jones and Shelton Spivey -were elected to the Windsor Town Council, while Mayor Robert C. Claud, running unopposed, was re-elected to a second term.

In Suffolk, former fire chief J. Samuel Carter edged out incumbent Andrew B. Damiani to win the Suffolk Borough seat on the City Council.

In other areas of Suffolk, former assistant city manager Thomas Underwood defeated incumbent Roy F. Waller in the Holy Neck Borough and Charles F. Brown won the Cypress Borough. In Chuckatuck, S. Chris Jones was elected without opposition.

Suffolk voters also chose their first elected School Board members: William L. Whitley from Chuckatuck, Calvin W. Jones from Holy Neck, Lorraine Skeeter from Cypress and Frances Alwood from the Suffolk Borough.

And in the race for West Point Town Council, Tina S. Gulley was the top vote-getter in her first bid for elected office.

The other two seats available went to Harvey B. Heath and incumbent R. Burke Johnson.